Ep 72: Strengths and Struggles
“Success requires both urgency and patience. Be urgent about making the effort and patient about seeing the results.” -- Ralph Marston
Horsemanship is a balance of juggling strengths and struggles. By nature, one of our biggest struggles is our tendency to rush through things.
As human beings, we have a natural desire for speed and efficiency that often gets in our way of progressing. Sometimes, we are in such a rush to reach a desired result that we end up creating more issues than we started with.
When we get frustrated or insecure, we tend to take drastic measures to get back into our comfort zone.
If we try something and don’t get the desired response immediately, by nature, we either apply more pressure or quit.
When we apply more pressure, we create a tense and unwilling animal. On the other hand, when we quit before the horse finds the correct answer, we teach the horse the wrong response.
To truly teach our horses, we must be patient enough to hold a consistent amount of pressure and allow your horse time to find the right answer. Once the horse goes through the process of elimination to find that correct answer, we immediately provide that horse with a release.
Another struggle we have as human beings is our tendency to obsess over our weaknesses.
As trainers, one of the worst habits we can get into is focusing only on our areas of weakness. If we solely focus on our weaknesses and don’t continue to reinforce our strengths, our strengths will gradually become weaker.
To stay good at anything, we have to continually practice correct repetitions. These areas of strength are an essential component of the training routine because they provide the opportunity for horse and rider to become confident in each other, develop a relaxed mindset, and prepare to tackle their weaknesses.
When it comes to balancing your strengths and struggles as a trainer, my advice to you is this:
If you’ve got a challenge in front of you, face the challenge. But, don’t become obsessed with that challenge. Take the opportunity to allow your strengths to shine through in the midst of your struggles.
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